The Singing Revolution

How Music Toppled an Empire

Most people don't think about singing when thinking about revolutions. But in Estonia song was the weapon of choice when Estonians sought to free themselves from decades of Soviet occupation. Few people know the crucial role one of the world's smallest nations played in bringing about the downfall of the Soviet Union. Soviet forces invaded Estonia in 1939, at the beginning of World War II. By the end of the war, more than a quarter of the Estonian population had been lost. During the turbulent decades that followed, music became a powerful unifying force, a means of preserving the country's national identity, and a tool for political resistance in the face of cultural genocide. The Singing Revolution documents how, between 1986 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians gathered publicly to sing forbidden patriotic songs and to listen to protest speeches, risking their lives to proclaim their desire for independence. The revolutionary songs they created anchored Estonia's struggle for freedom, which was ultimately accomplished without the loss of a single life.

By the late-1980's, Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to salvage the empire by offering perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (free speech) were backfiring, as Estonians saw the new policies as an opportunity. The…

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